Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a sarcastic dig at the Congress after it failed to win a single seat in the Legislative Council elections across four states, despite the polls being conducted using ballot papers. The Prime Minister's remarks were a pointed jibe at the Opposition party's repeated objections to the use of EVMs and demands for a return to paper ballots.
In a post on X, the Prime Minister asked his followers to guess how many seats the Congress had won in the MLC elections, ending the question with a thinking face with monocle emoji. The emoji, which depicts a face peering through a monocle, is commonly used to convey curiousity or scepticism, adding a mocking angle to his question.
“MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka. Elections held using ballot papers. Guess how many seats Congress won?” he tweeted.
His remarks came after Congress failed to win any of the 28 seats in the MLC elections held in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka. The party had contested 12 of the 28 seats across the four states. Despite the Congress being in power in Karnataka, the party lost all four seats it held earlier despite the voting being held on ballot papers.
The thinking face emoji is commonly called the face with monocle. It conveys curiousity, scrutiny or a questioning or a skeptical look. In this context, PM Modi used the emoji to tease the Congress for drawing a blank in the MLC polls.
The Prime Minister's jibe targetted the Congress's repeated demands for a return to ballot paper voting and its objections to the use of EVMs over claims they benefited the BJP.
ABOUT MLC ELECTIONS
Elections to the six teachers' and five graduates' constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, four each in Bihar, two each in Karnataka, and three graduates' and two teachers' constituencies in Maharashtra were held on October 23.
Counting began on Tuesday and was still underway in some seats.
In Maharashtra, the BJP-led ruling Mahayuti was leading in three seats while the opposition NCP (SP) was ahead in two seats. The Jan Suraaj Party opened its account in Bihar, where the BJP, the JD(U), the RJD and an Independent have won one seat each.
The Congress suffered a huge setback in Karnataka, one of the few states it still rules. The party lost all the four seats, with the opposition JD(S) wresting one segment from the grand old party and its ally BJP retaining three.
The Congress and several other Opposition parties have been demanding that all future elections be held using ballot papers and not EVMs, claiming that they were being rigged to favour the BJP. They have been launching protests nationwide against alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise and demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
On the other hand, the BJP and its allies have lashed out at the Congress, asserting that their 'vote chori' (vote theft) propaganda had been exposed following the MLC elections.
